Girl, 5, stung as deadly jellyfish heads south

Jellyfish warning

IN THE NEWSROOM: Irukandji sting further south reports Daniel Knowles.

A FIVE-year-old girl has spent four days in intensive care after being stung by an irukandji jellyfish off Fraser Island, hundreds of kilometres south of the deadly stinger's home waters in north Queensland.

Brisbane mum Julie Margaglione said her daughter Haley was swimming off the western side of Fraser Island a fortnight ago when the irukandji stung her on the arm.

In massive pain, she curled up on the beach as her desperate mum tried to get help.

Nearby campers covered the sting in ice as Ms Margaglione called the ambulance.

Airlifted to Hervey Bay hospital, her condition worsened and she was flown to Brisbane's Mater Children's Hospital where she spent another three days in intensive care.

Mrs Margaglione said her daughter had been in "absolute agony" on the beach near Moon Point.

"She immediately said, 'My body hurts, my body hurts' and she went into convulsions and into the fetal position on the beach," Ms Margaglione said.

"Then she said, 'I can't breathe'. She went very floppy, very red and in absolute agony."

While Haley was now back home, with the Easter school holidays approaching, Ms Margaglione said she wanted parents to know the risks before they let their children into the water.

"Everyone has said to me, 'I didn't think they were down here this far'," Ms Margaglione said. "I don't want mums to go on holiday and not know.

"We were given all this literature, but it was about dingoes and crocs but nothing about jellyfish.

"Everybody seems to think these things are in Cairns - they are not."

Anthony Richardson, associate professor at the University of Queensland and a CSIRO researcher, said irukandji were found in Hervey Bay, but in much smaller numbers than further north.

Like other species, though, they could be headed further south as the sea waters warmed up.

Prof Richardson is trying to find funding for an irukandji alert system that would predict where and when irukandji were likely to be found and alert tourist operators, fishermen and beachgoers.

He said researchers had approached the tourism and fishing industry for financial backing.

Source: A day in the life of a wizard